Porsche FE Team Principal Seidl Leaves Role

The man charged with leading Porsche into its new Formula E program, Andreas Seidl, has left the company after six years with the manufacturer.

Although not yet officially confirmed by Porsche, German weekly publication Motorsport Aktuell reports that Seidl has already left his role and is believed to have agreed a position in Formula 1 for 2019.

The 42 year-old was one of the masterminds of Porsche’s string of successes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2015 and 2017, where the marque took three wins in both.

Seidl has been the designated project leader for the Formula E operation since the program was announced in July 2017.

He has led a team of largely ex-WEC staff as the powertrain concept has taken shape over the last year.

E-racing365 believes that initial test bench running of the powertrain has already been carried out and that this will continue until early 2019 when the first track running will take place.

Porsche receives its cars in early January and is committed to making its debut at the end of next year.

Although Seidl headed several aspects of the Formula E program, in overall charge is Porsche Motorsport vice president Fritz Enzinger, who could now also take over temporary team principal duties.

Other leading figures set to be involved in the Porsche Formula E program include Carlo Wiggers, who was head of team management on the LMP1 program, race engineer Kyle-Wilson Clarke and crew chief Amiel Lindesay.

All three have visited several Formula E events in the past 12 months and were in attendance at the recent official Valencia test which they used for research gathering ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.

Sam Smith is e-racing365's Formula E Editor. A 20-year veteran in motorsports media, including press officer roles in both the FIA Sportscar Championship and at Lola Group, Smith is a well-known face in the Formula E paddock, where he served as series editor for Motorsport.com from 2014-17. Contact Sam